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The view: An A-4 from the backseat of a TA-4
The pilot: Dale Hill (backseat of the TA-4)
The airplane: Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
The mission: Flying from the USS Hancock, an Essex class WWII carrier operating in the Gulf of Tonkin off the east coast of Vietnam.
The memory: It was October of 1973—the Vietnam war was over and the Hancock was ‘on patrol’ in the Gulf of Tonkin. We were on the way back to Nakhon Phanom (NKP) Air Base in Thailand where I flew the OV-10 Bronco. It was an ‘exchange’ tour where the Navy flew a a two-ship to NKP with one of the aircraft a two-seat TA-4 and the pilot in that back seat would stay in my ‘rack’ at NKP. The two A-4s would return to the Hancock with me occupying that back seat and I would stay in his ‘rack’ aboard the carrier. It was supposed to be a three-day exchange with each of us getting to experience several missions in the other’s airplane. However, a typhoon in the Gulf of Tonkin kept all of the ship’s aircraft grounded—actually they were chained down because we were taking water over the deck! So, the only flights I got was the trip out with a ‘trap’ when we arrived (THAT was exciting!) and then a ‘cat shot’ (THAT was even MORE exciting!) when we returned to Thailand a week later. When I got back on solid ground, I could still ‘feel’ the rolling of the ship for several hours as I got my ‘land legs’ back.
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Hi Dale: I just read your remembrance, made a smile come to my lips. Why? I used to coordinate that same Navy-AF exchange program, mainly with the Midway team. Feb 1971 I arrived at NKP and in less than 24 hours I pissed off the Ops (Sanborn) and Assistant Ops (McPherson) Officer. That got me assigned to fly 4B most of the time! Great fishy hole!!! Back then it was the 23rd’s responsibly. Later it changed to Da Nang and the 20th. When you were there, had Howie Pierson became the Squadron Commander? This OV10 FAC Tour was after my 1st down south flying special ops with an old, oily UC -123/K at 100′ over the jungle foliage and later the normal C-123 flying III and IV Corps. I was an uninformed kid back then. Why do I write such? I thought I was there to protect innocents in S. Vietnam form Communism! When I asked for a 3rd tour in an A7, the wiser folks at Randolph Personnel decided it was better that I fly the C5 out of Dover and so, I became a rather large trash hauler. (smile) . If you’d like to communicate with me – John Stipetich email: [email protected] ph: 713-385-7825 send me an email so we can establish contact. We might have some stories to swap. Did you hear they are shutting down the FAC organization? Not enough interest I guess on the part of old FACs and their families?
Yes, Howie took command after I arrived at NKP and he made an immediate impression when he showed up in his party suit for the first time — We LTs thought we were ‘hot stuff’ with our 150 mission patches, but his said 1,500+ missions!!!
Yes, the FAC Association has closed its doors. I was one of the youngest in the FACA, and I just turned 75. We are losing members and it was decided at our reunion in 2022 that 2024 would be our ‘fini’ reunion. We had a great time at Ft Walton and saw a lot of ‘old’ (age-wise and time-wise) friends.